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Which should translate to something like, "[He] appears worn out but [he's] still kicking."

The main point is that in this instance, my understanding is that ぎみ means "appears to," or, "looks like."

This card just came up in the rotation, and I remembered seeing this question, where it is explained that がる also means something similar.

So similar, that I'm wondering what exactly is the difference between がる and ぎみ?

Obviously one difference is that がる can be modified ("conjugated"?) like a verb (maybe it is a verb of some kind?) to become がっている, and ぎみ doesn't look like it can be modified in any way that I'm aware of. So there almost certainly a difference in grammatical usage.

The definitions still seem to be pretty much the same though.

Can someone explain if they have different implications in meaning, and in what situations one would apply and the other couldn't?

3 Answers
3

Honestly speaking, I do not find the suffixes がる and [気味]{ぎみ} anything similar to each other. This may mean that my explanation is not going to help you resolve your confusion, but anyway here is my attempt.

The two suffixes have different grammatical roles and different meanings.

がる is attached to the stem of an i-adjective or a word which conjugates like an i-adjective, and forms a verb. It adds the meaning “to act showing ….”

Just in case it's not clear, the reason I ask for your translation is that for me, saying someone looks exhausted but still living implies that they look really, really exhausted. As in, they look near dead, which is why one clarifies they are still living (even though it's all probably just hyperbole). So when you say 気味 is only a "slight" indication, it seems to not fit with the rather extreme image I get from reading the sentence.
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QuestionerOct 11 '11 at 4:40

@DaveMG: I think that 生きてます is a kind of joke. It does not really mean that the speaker is so exhausted that it has to be made explicit that he/she is alive. Let me think a little more.
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Tsuyoshi ItoOct 11 '11 at 11:29

Hmm, I agree with @TsuyoshiIto. I don't see them as even close at all. But I've never thought of an overlap amongst them, so maybe they are easily mistaken by some people.
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istrasciOct 11 '11 at 14:13